1. Field
The described embodiments relate to techniques for presenting three-dimensional information.
2. Related Art
Many electronic devices include display subsystems that use image-rendering techniques to present visual information to users. For example, many existing display subsystems present visual information using one or more two-dimensional (2D) images (such as a 2D view of an image in a plane) that are displayed on a display.
However, it can be difficult to accurately present three-dimensional (3D) information to the users using 2D images. For example, in many computer-vision applications, a 2D image or a sequence of 2D images (which is sometimes referred to as ‘2.5D’ images) based on an extracted surface or a volume rendering is often used to specify a single 3D-perspective view projected on to a plane, thereby simulating the appearance of 3D information. Nonetheless, the 2.5D images are not typically 3D images. In particular, the 2.5D images do not include image parallax (i.e., they do not provide stereoscopic viewing based on the offset between the left and right eyes of a viewer). Therefore, the 3D-perspective view provided by 2.5D images may not be the same as that provided by an actual 3D image. The differences that occur can result in distortions, which can degrade the accuracy of the viewer's perception of the presented 3D information (which can result in errors) and may degrade the viewer experience by making it more difficult, time consuming and tiring for the viewer to look at the 3D information.